Captain of the Year Award (submit a nomination) 
The Captain of the Year award program was created by umpires in 2005 to help foster collaborative relationships between players and umpires; provide rules education programs for players, coaches, and fans; and encourage advanced umpire training.  

The award aspect of the program recognizes players who demonstrate excellent sportsmanship, rules knowledge and superior leadership skills. While any player can be nominated and all team captains are automatically eligible, the Captain of the Year award winner is typically a player who helps ensure the fairest possible outcome of a game because he or she has in-depth rules knowledge and so is able to be an advocate for her or his team when it becomes necessary to challenge an umpire's important call and/or has helped to quell unsportsmanlike behavior of their teammates or other team personnel. The award is presented in each participating county through a sponsor that is interested in affiliating their organization with a young athlete who demonstrates the aforementioned attributes. 

Nomination Form
Nominations for the 2008 Captain of the Year award can only be made through our online, interactive nomination form. Click here to submit one or more nominations.

Sponsors
At the high school level, the Captain of the Year award is sponsored on a county-by-county basis and can be sponsored in any state or province. The award can be sponsored by a business or individual. The award can also be sponsored by an anonymous benefactor. If you or someone you know is interested in supporting the award at the high school level in your county, please read this.

UmpireHockey.org is interested in working with a national sponsor to bring the award program to the collegiate level (NCAA field hockey). Details of the national sponsorship program are available. Please contact us at 609.240.3052.

Deserving athletes in the following counties can win the award due to local sponsorships -- Bergen County, New Jersey (since 2007); Hunterdon County, New Jersey (since 2007), Mercer County, New Jersey (since 2005); Monmouth County, New Jersey (since 2008), Morris County, New Jersey (since 2007); San Diego County, California (starting 2008); Somerset County, New Jersey (since 2007). Current sponsors are:

• 4U Field Hockey Equipment is sponsoring the award in San Diego County, California
• Champion's Edge Field Hockey, a Princeton, NJ based organization that specializes in elite level field hockey instruction is sponsoring the award in Hunterdon County and Somerset County, both of which are in New Jersey
• G-FORCE Field Hockey, a Morris County, NJ field hockey academy is sponsoring the award in Morris County, New Jersey
  
• Henderson Sotheby's International Realty, a Princeton, NJ real estate firm is sponsoring the award in Mercer County, New Jersey 
  
• Jersey Intensity Field Hockey, a New Jersey based elite level field hockey club is sponsoring the award in Monmouth County, New Jersey
  
• NJ Express Field Hockey, a Bergen County, NJ field hockey club is sponsoring the award in Bergen County, New Jersey

The award is named after the sponsor within each participating county and the sponsor's name/logo is included at the top of the award plaque.

Other potential sponsors include banks, insurance companies, law firms, newspapers, restaurants, coaches' associations, etc. Only tobacco, alcohol, gambling and firearm businesses/brands are not eligible for award sponsorship. Sponsorship is $400 per year and requires a multi-year commitment.

Funding
The Captain of the Year award can only be presented where funded by sponsorship.

Use of Funds
The award program generates funds that are used for the creation and publication of rule education programs and to help offset expenses associated with providing advanced training for umpires within the sponsor's county. Funding also provides the award winner's commemorative plaque.

Measuring Success: Captain of the Year
The success of the Captain of the Year award is highlighted by this quote from the award’s first winner,"I was delighted to receive the Henderson Sotheby's International Realty 2005 Captain of the Year award," said Catherine Marchetta, team captain for Princeton High School, Mercer County, New Jersey, USA. She continued, "The open and respectful relationship established between captains and officials at playday, prior to the regular season, definitely set the standard for the rest of the year. This cooperation led to many successful and energized field hockey games in which communication was welcomed by both parties. I hope that this teamwork continues in the future so that everyone enjoys the game of field hockey as much as I did this year!"

Education Programs 

We will come to your school! (Team Fundraiser)
One of UmpireHockey.org's most innovative education programs is a team fundraiser. A team organizes a pre-season presentation of UmpireHockey.org's latest rules briefing. UmpireHockey.org arranges for a qualified presenter to attend the event and the host invites all the teams (coaches, players, parents/fans) within their county and charges admission ($10 for adults and $1 for players is recommended) and keeps the funds generated at the door. In areas where the Captain of the Year award is sponsored, the cost of the presenter is paid for by UmpireHockey.org.

Umpire Training
Another UmpireHockey.org education initiative are our Player Umpire, Starter Umpire and Level I training and certification programs. These programs are in direct alignment with umpire certifications published by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and adopted by USA Field Hockey.

Measuring Success: Umpire Training
A university team hosted a high school spring tournament as a fundraiser. The team hired UmpireHockey.org to provide a Starter Umpire Training & Certification program to their players a week before the tournament. Rather than spending money to hire umpires (who are often not available anyway), the college players officiated the tournament games as part of their certification process. The Starter Umpire Training & Certification program not only helped ensure a successful tournament with plenty of umpire coverage for the games, the players volunteered their officiating services as a means of saving money that the team would have otherwise had to spend. This enabled the university's team fundraising to reach its goal and the team traveled to Ireland to compete in a college-level tournament.